To choose a database, think about what department on campus would have scholars researching your topic, then use the "All Subjects" dropdown menu on the databases page to find that department. (ex. PsycINFO for Psychology topics)

See search examples on the second tab in this box, "Keywords and Database Searching"

Searching databases is different than searching Google. Distil what you're looking for into a few key terms or phrases, rather than whole sentences. Think of different ways to say those key terms, because different writers will refer to the same concept using different terms. To turn your topic into keywords or search terms, use this tool, or:

Write down your topic and underline the main concepts (ex. favelas' impact on creative culture in Brazil)

For each main concept, brainstorm a few synonyms and related terms (broader or narrower) that get at that concept:

Key Concepts

Favelas

Brazil

Creative culture

Related Terms

favella

favelados

urban slums

Dance

Music

samba

carnival

Combine key terms using AND and OR:​​

​AND narrows your search by looking for articles with all of the words (your two or three key concepts should be connected with AND, because you need all of them represented in useful articles).

OR broadens your search by looking for articles with any of the words (synonyms and related terms should be separated by OR - they get at the same key concepts, so any of them are useful).

Try different combinations of your keywords to get better results as you search:

​

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Databases

Updated daily. A comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full text database, with more than 5,300 full text periodicals, including 4,400 peer-reviewed journals. Offers indexing and abstracts for more than 9,300 journals and a total of 10,900 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc.

Features PDF content going back as far as 1865, with the majority of full text titles in native (searchable) PDF format. Searchable cited references are provided for 1,000 journals.

Updated regularly. Offers a high-quality, interdisciplinary archive to support scholarship and teaching. Includes archives of over 1,000 leading academic journals across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as select monographs and other materials valuable for academic work. The entire corpus is full-text searchable, offers search term highlighting, includes high-quality images, and is interlinked by millions of citations and references.

Members of the public can read online up to three articles for free every two weeks from a large subset of JSTOR journals via the Register & Read program. This program allows remote access. Non-UT students, faculty and staff who need more articles can contact library staff for other access options.

Updated regularly. Contains citations and abstracts of worldwide literature (excluding the United States and Canada) from approximately 2,100 journals and (since 1980) books and dissertations on political, diplomatic, economic, social, cultural and intellectual history and related areas of the social sciences and humanities. Covers history dating from 1450 to the present. The database corresponds to the print Historical Abstracts, which was produced by ABC-CLIO.

Updated daily. Provides a full-color and full-page collection of newspapers from around the world,. Includes over 1000 titles from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the United States. A 60-day archive is also available to browse by country, language, and newspaper title, and to search full text of articles, photograph captions, and headlines.

Once inside the newspaper, click on a headline to read the article or zoom in to read the article as it appears in print.

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